By Ed Felker
Ed Felker is a member of the DC Randonneurs and keeps the long distance cycling community updated through his blog at dailyrandonneur.wordpress.com.
This issue I'm going to get to the fantastic blog posts in the last few months, but first I want to give a big hat tip to the growing number of randonneurs who are posting brevet photos. I post mine to Flickr (see mine under my Flickr name felkerino) and there are others who are showing us their rides and bikes. If you're interested in a permanent, brevet or anything else related to randonneuring, the odds are increasing that a photoset about it has been posted to Flickr.
For instance, check out the Green Acres 200K Permanent out of Baxter, Tenn. courtesy of Bob Hess (Flickr name bob hess). This ride took place Oct. 11 and more details can be found at the Harpeth Bicycle Club site, as well as the RUSA permanents page.
D.C. Randonneurs' photographers Maile Neel (Flickr name mcn7), RBA Bill Beck (Flickr name wabeck) and Mark Vinette (Flickr name mvinette) have also been posting photos from DCR rides and Crista Borras' weekend centuries. The latest was the Cacapon 200K on Oct. 18. The DCR Flickr group can be found at: www.flickr.com/groups/dcrand/.
The Oregon Randonneurs' Bill Alsup (Flickr name tangobiker) posted photos of the Oregon Desert Rivers 600K and Formerly Floyd blogger Cecil Reniche-Smith (Flickr name cecilanne) took us through the Two Ferries Permanent on Oct. 12.
ORR has its own Flickr group at: www.flickr.com/groups/orrandonneurs/.
Finally we got a great look at the Oct. 4 San Francisco Randonneurs 200K from Jim Gourgoutis (Flickr name jimgskoop).
The SFR have group shots at: www.flickr.com/groups/sfrandon/.
Not to be left out, the Seattle Randonneurs have a group at: www.flickr.com/groups/seattlerandonneur/.
These are just a few of the places to find terrific randonneuring photos. Send me an email if you have more suggestions at eddiefel@gmail.com.
Now, on to the blogs!
Showdown at Black Creek: Cowboy Bob, Stuck and a Duck Named Aflac. American Randonneur editor Mike Dayton keeps the fun going with his North Carolina Randonneurs pals at Research Trailer Park, (http://ncrandonneur.blogspot.com/). He wrote up the group's 200k permanent to Black Creek from Raleigh, where they found the most interesting street festival underway. The blog post also includes Mike's photoset at his Picasa page.
Bing[en]ing in the Rain. Cecil Anne gives us a good view of the Oregon Randonneurs Bingen Bikenfest at her Formerly Floyd blog (http://formerlyfloyd.blogspot.com/2008/10/bingening-in-rain.html). She spins the tale of how that demanding goal, the RUSA R-12 award, motivated her to brew some tea, grab that rain jacket and go "win the brevet." An excerpt that will bring back memories to anyone who has ridden in the rain, looking forward all the while to a little warmth and comfort: In short order I was soaked through and chilled to the bone. Rats. On the other hand, there was very little wind. After the hell that was the Bickleton Plateau on the 600 two weeks earlier, I took quite a bit of pleasure in that. After about an hour more of climbing (which included navigating through some nasty wet gravel patches) I descended to Big Tire Junction and turned left toward Trout Lake. At this point I was fantasizing about more hot cocoa, and pedaled quickly in the hopes that I would reach Trout Lake before the espresso place next to the gas station closed.
100Km to Lunch; 100Km to Dinner. RUSA President and Seattle randonneur Mark Thomas has kept up the posts at his Mark's Rando Notes blog (http://rusa64.blogspot.com/). One recent entry covers, with photos, the Whidbey-La Conner 200K Permanent on Oct. 12. Mark's preference to sit in the group was confirmed when the route crossed Pull and Be Damned Road. Later, they unexpectedly spent some time with Ken Brooker, one of the original Seattle Randonneurs. In another post, Mark writes about the SIR's cleanup of the East Lake Sammamish Parkway to fulfill its adopt-a-road pledge. Well done SIR!
DC Randonneurs Capacon 200k Ride Report. There is something about certain randonneurs who don't consider giving up if they can keep going, even if they have a major mechanical that forces them to pedal mostly with one leg. David Ripton tells us about the Oct. 18 running of the new DCR brevet through the hills of West Virginia and how he managed to finish despite having less than two complete pedals at the end. Read David's report at his Not Even My Wife Reads This blog at http://www.ripton.net/blog/.
Until next time, keep riding and keep on writing! — Ed Felker